“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.” John Hope Franklin

Last Saturday, I did something that was completely out of my comfort zone.  I went to a new city, in a different country, by myself.  For me, this was absolutely terrifying at the beginning because I was completely unsure of what to expect and what I would/will do once I got to the city. 

Saturday morning at about 5:00, I was extremely unsure if I should/could even go on the trip or not.  I wasn't feeling the greatest and I was scared out of my wits but I couldn't justify losing the money I had spent on the train ticket and/or missing out on a great time.  Needless to say, about 6 a.m., I phoned for a cab (my first time doing that as well) to come pick me up and take me to the station.  5 minutes and 5 pounds later, I was at the station waiting to board my 6:50 a.m. train to Dublin.  The train ride was smooth but weird due to most of it being in the dark.  Now I am used to flying when it is dark (plus I really enjoy seeing the beautiful sunrises above the clouds) but riding on a train in the dark was interesting but a good way for me to catch up on about an hour of my sleep that I lost.  It was also really awkward because when you try to stare out the window to look at the scenery, you are actually staring at the people sitting on the other side of the train.  Finally, we pulled into Dublin Connolly Rail Station and I felt a bit more calm but was still seriously unsure of how to get where I wanted to go and how to get there.

Scenery on the train ride to Dublin

More beautiful green scenery!

I started off at the National Museum-Archeology.  I viewed everything from the exhibit of Kingship and Sacrifice to Ancient Egypt. All the plaques that were describing the artifacts were both in Gaelic and in English which was really cool because it was interesting to try and match up the English words with the Gaelic words.  It was interesting to see all the different types of jewelry and Ireland's gold that they have found all over Ireland and at the same time, mummified bodies of the Iron Age that were the result of human sacrifice. 

Description of the mummified guy below

Mummified guy in the Kingship and Sacrifice exhibit in the museum

Gold necklace's that people used to wear!! I don't plan on wearing those any time soon!!

What one would look like wearing the necklaces and ear plugs

 After the Museum, I decided that I wanted to see more of the city but wanted to be back for two tours of the National Library at 2:30pm, so I hopped on a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus.  Although I didn't get off the bus to explore the sights because of time constraints, I did see a wide variety of sights.  I saw everything from where Oscar Wilde's statue and where he grew up, to the Guinness Storehouse.  I plan on going back to view the sights in more depth later on this year but driving by the Storehouse, it had the most interesting smell ever.  To me, it smelt like somebody was cooking baby food, which is not how I imagined a brewery smelling.  

Guinness Storehouse/Brewery

Guinness Storehouse/Brewery

I got back just in time to grab a little lunch and head back to the National Library for the tour to the reading room.  The room was huge and had books dating back till the 1700's!!  Their catalog system is unlike anything that I have seen.  They have all of their books in ledgers on a bookshelf.  Once you find the book/s that you want, you take the information up and give it to the librarian who goes and looks in the stacks of the books they have and bring them to your table.  After the tour of the reading room, I went on a tour of the W. B. Yeats exhibition.  Apparently, William Butler Yeats was one of the most important 20th century poets.  The exhibition goes throughout Yeats's life from birth till death highlighting his main works.  It was interesting to see the actual works of the poet sitting in glass cases or seeing the last set of glasses the great poet wore.  If you would like to know more about the exhibition/take a virtual tour of the exhibition, you can visit the exhibition website, http://www.nli.ie/yeats/main.html. 

The library's catalog system!

Oldest book I found!! 1758!!!

After the tours of the library, I decided that it was time to head back towards the train station because it was starting to get dark and I didn't really want to be in a big city, at night, by myself.  On the way to the station, I entered quite a few shops just seeing what they had and the possibility of buying cheap items.  I entered one of my favorite stores, a soap shop.  Not knowing if I had enough Euros to buy food to get back and any unknown items I might pick up in the station, I refrained from buying.  Don't worry though because next time I am saving all of the money that I can and buy as much soap that I can (if I can find the shop again)!! :-)  It was the same way with all the chocolate shops that I passed.  They looked so good but seemed a little bit highly priced for the current monetary state I was in.  Oh well, next time!!

So all in all, it was a great day!!

Moving on to this week, the fellow YAV's and myself went with our site coordinator to the Holy Cross Benedictine Monastery. We went to their worship service which was very interesting and unique due to my inexperience with that type of service.  Talking with one of the monks and experiencing their worship and their prayer time, really allowed me to see the differences and similarities between our lives and worship styles.  I hope that I can go back one day and experience their worship again and talk to the monks again.  On our way out of the monastery, we made a stop by their little shop, which contained their homemade candles, postcards, cards, and beads.  It smelled fantastic and I definitely plan on buying more cinnamon scented candles!!


All in all, the past few weeks have been full of fun, exciting adventures, and great learning experiences!! There are many more to come and I can't wait!!  Thank you to everybody for your love and support throughout this year!! It means a lot to me and I hope you are enjoying this blog as much as I enjoy writing it!!!

Here are some random pictures to finish it off!! :-) 

Cool mosaic floor in the library

I saw fake leprechauns standing on the corner!!

A dog made out of sand!! So cool!!

"Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

Well it has been a while since I have updated this and for that I am truly sorry.  I have been super busy and I know that's not an excuse but here's a little bit about what I have been doing.

Today, the Women's group met in Short Strand and started a program on Peace and Reconciliation. Throughout this program, we are looking at conflict and reconciliation in our lives and in the world today.  We worked through a working definition of what conflict is and how we see it in our lives.  We also explored the different terminology that goes along with conflict.  For example, we looked at the different between intra-personal conflict and inter-personal conflict.  Intra-personal conflict is a conflict that we have with ourselves.  An argument or disagreement about whether we want to eat a certain type of chips or drink a certain type of drink is an example of intra-personal conflict.  We each have this conflict within us whether we consciously realize it or not.  Inter-personal conflict is conflict between you and another person or persons.  This is the type of conflict we normally see in our everyday lives through war, abuse and through many more ways.  It's going to be interesting to be a part of this because the conflicts we, as Americans, is different than that of the people in Northern Ireland but all in all, it will be insightful to learn more about the commonalities and differences in our conflicts other than the obvious ones.

Going a little bit back in time, I went on a residential, aka a retreat, with the youth of the church this weekend to Annalong.  It was a great weekend and it gave me a change to really get to know the youth of the church.  We talked about where they see themselves in the church, what they want in terms of a youth group and what they want from the new Skainos building.  For fun, we went the the Peace Maze in Castlewellan, which is the largest maze in the UK and the second larges in the world, and to Newcastle to tour around the shops for about an hour.  The maze was a lot of fun and Tanita and I completed it without cheating and going over or through hedge.  All in all, the weekend was great but extremely tiring.  I'm still trying to get caught up on my sleep.  Haha!!

Going even a little father back, last Tuesday, the Women's group met with two or three other groups for a workshop for a play that we are going to see this upcoming Thursday, the 13th.  The play is called Guidelines by Tinderbox, a theatrical group here in Belfast.  The play is about 1% of the population that is left after a huge world disaster and how they survive.  They warn us that there are times in the play that might be uncomfortable but it should be interesting no less.  There will be more about the play in the next post.

All in all, I have had a great couple of weeks, busy but great.  This weekend we are going to Dublin for a day trip, so there will most def be pictures from that!! :-)

But for now, here are a few pictures of some of the peace walls here in Belfast, along with a few pictures of the maze!!

One of the Titanic Murals

Portraying how the Red Hand of Ulster came about

Largest maze in the UK

Largest Maze in the UK take 2!!

I feel its only appropriate to close this post with a Shel Silverstein quote: "I will not play tug o' war. I'd rather play hug o' war. Where everyone hugs instead of tugs, Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug, Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins, and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins."  With the current Peace and Reconciliation course I'm in, this quote is all the more appropriate cause we need to learn to love one another no matter what, even if we have some differences.  Much love and thanks!!! :-)